Doomsday Reef

Dan Kilmer #3

by Matthew Bracken

The third novel in the Dan Kilmer series. Dan's cargo schooner is in South Carolina, but they have to flee to a safer country a decade after the USA has collapsed into anarchy.

Genres: Fiction

625 pages, Kindle Edition

First published June 29, 2024

About the author

Matt Bracken was born in Baltimore, Maryland in 1957 and graduated from the University of Virginia in 1979 with a degree in Russian Studies. He was commissioned in the US Navy through the NROTC program at UVA, and then graduated from Basic Underwater Demolition/SEAL training class 105 in Coronado California. He served on east coast UDT and SEAL teams, taking a Naval Special Warfare detachment to Beirut in 1983. Mr. Bracken left active duty after Lebanon, upon completion of his obligated military service, but he remained in an active reserve status through the remainder of the 1980s. Since then he has lived in Florida, Virginia, South Carolina, Guam and California. In 1993 Mr. Bracken finished building a 48-foot steel sailing cutter of his own design, on which he has done extensive ocean cruising, including a solo voyage 9,000 miles from Panama to Guam and two Panama Canal transits.

Matt is a self-described freedomista who loves ocean sailing for the pure freedom it often permits. He is a constitutionalist who believes in the original intent of the founding fathers of our country. He lives with his family in North Florida and longs for the wide blue ocean.

Reviews

[cool breeze · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a near-future, post-apocalyptic sailing adventure. It includes a lot of helpful maps, sketches and photos appropriately placed with the text. It is better at doing this than the vast majority of books I have read. It communicates a lot of useful sailing lore without the exposition feeling forced or overdone. This aspect of the book reminded me somewhat of Erskine Childers’ fine The Riddle of the Sands, published in 1903. Not the least because most of technological civilization has been set back at least that far in the book. The settings and world building are outstanding. The storytelling is good and so is the balance between present day events and references to grim events of the apocalypse.

I like the author and have read all his books. I wish I could give this a five-star rating, but that would really be stretching it. Some of his better lines get reused in close succession, diminishing their original impact. One of the 13 characters on the boat, Rita, doesn’t do anything but take up space and babysit. Why bother writing about her at all? The “married with kids” version of Dan Kilmer is quite a bit less interesting than his earlier bachelor self. There are no more boat bunnies, only a wife who nags him when he gets drunk once. The title concept, the post-apocalyptic remains of a giant cruise liner shipwrecked on Doomsday Reef, was done earlier and better in John Ringo’s Black Tide Rising series. Bracken doesn’t do anything new or interesting anything with the idea, he just sails on by. There are three well written conflicts earlier in the book, but after sailing uneventfully by the wreck, the story largely just fizzles out without much more than setting up a sequel.

I hope Bracken continues to write. I will continue to buy and read his books. However, if that includes a sequel in this series, and he certainly left that wide open, I think it would be better if the bad guys killed Dan's wife and kids early on, sending him on a mission for revenge. The more sensitive, henpecked Dan Kilmer of this book is as out of place as James Bond fretting endlessly about childhood development issues.

[Amy Burden · Rating 5 out of 5]

Too good to put down

Having read the series I thank the author for his effort and talent. The characters are each unique and well defined and the plots and subplots are interwoven to be entertaining which they are.

[Nate · Rating 5 out of 5]

Another excellent addition to the series! I sincerely hope that Mr. Bracken writes another soon, and explores the new world he unlocks for the characters in the last few chapters of this book. (hopefully he doesn't skip to far ahead in time.) As a Marine Combat vet of the Iraq war, I'm obviously rooting for Dan and his people to make it. That might be Mr. Bracken's own personal brand of suspense, worrying the reader excessively over the fragility of life and the hero's wellbeing minute by minute. That's what makes the series so believable.
In a series that has been dark with realistic peril and what very easily could still happen in reality, I really hope that whenever Mr. Bracken writes the final installment it concludes with a happy ending. I feel that Dan has earned it after everything he has been through. Storms don't last forever, you just need to ride them out.

[Terry · Rating 5 out of 5]

Entertaining but also Informative and Perhaps Prophetic

The author sure has a good knowledge of the topic, but also spins a pretty good yarn as well that reflects a time when all has collapsed including governments.

Some frightening accounts of what happens when it all goes South that are more plausible these days with the way things are trending. Not always a pleasant read but is clean with no sex scenes or foul language.

I also read the other two before this one, but this one reflects that side of human nature that surfaces when the law of survival supplants the rule of law. Will leave you thinking about what may come and for that alone is worth the read.

[Tore Fossum · Rating 5 out of 5]

Interesting look at what might be.

Doomsday reef is exciting and it transmits a good bit of naval knowledge. I live in Texas, and it just might happen one day, that the Nation of Texas stands alone for its people, for liberty and freedom. That will require every one of us to be a strong part of this tribe, to do what we are able to do, at every point where something needs to be done. Starting now get involved and contribute to the great state of Texas.

[Maria Zurita · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent new chapter in the Dan Kilmer Saga

Great read, action is different than in previous books, but no less exciting. At first I didn't care for the sailing jargon, but it grew on me in a weird, Tom Clancy esque descriptive way. The time skip from the previous novel was good, definitely the most optimistic book of the series.

[Ra44 · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is one of those books you hate finishing - it's like a friend you enjoy departing.

It's about the US and all or most of the rest of the world having failed ten years previous. It's about how people survive and what life is like in such a situation. Ninety percent of the population is gone, as are the industries and institutions that we are dependent on and are accustomed to.

The author is a very accomplished writer with an impressive imagination of the practical problems and solutions in a post apocalypse world. This book is less about violent encounters than his previous books, and is very informative about small boating (a sixty foot steel hulled sail) on the open sea.

Highly recommended.

[MF · Rating 5 out of 5]

good book, but action is kind of slow

This book is a bit different from previous 2. Lot more time spent talking about sailing and lot less action. It’s not bad, but it’d be a bit boring if you expect lots of action like in the other books.
Description of different aspects of sailing is very accurate, with one exception - you do not need to have precise time signals to set a chronometer. All you need to know is exact longitude of your location (which you do if you know where you are on the map) and time of sun at highest point in the sky, which is the same as local noon. Simply note the time the sun shadow is shortest and it’s directly translated to UTC given your known exact longitude.

[Steve · Rating 5 out of 5]

Outstanding.

Guess I can’t just do a one word review, so here goes.

A book of adventure, high seas, mankind’s hell and god’s glory, all masterfully crafted into a page-turner that is also a skills primer.

Insights of what a leader has to do to effectively lead.

Enough twists and adventures to make a detailed review without spoilers impossible.

Maybe “Outstanding” is actually enough of a review?

Recommended reading!

[william drummond · Rating 5 out of 5]

"Doomsday Reef" is another hard-to-put-down great read by Matt Bracken, full of suspense, spy-craft and tantalizing (in one's mind's eye) females as well as both terrifying and thrilling stories about sailing.

One has to wonder though, assuming that Dan Kilmer is modeled at least in part after the author himself, whether Matt is height-challenged and through Dan can finally identify as a tall guy, or if he's simply one of "those (irritating) people who brag because they're tall." Either way, it does become slightly annoying, repetitious and somewhat comical, but otherwise I always thoroughly enjoy his books and hope that there are more to come.

[Chris Baird · Rating 5 out of 5]

So glad Mr. Bracken produced more excellent fiction!

As with all this authors work, I thoroughly enjoyed it in its entirety. Please keep up the Dan Kilmer series, I know it's a ton of work but please please keep going! Also, I loved seeing your faith shine thru in this work. God bless you and yours Matt, and I look forward to another book someday!

[Jim & Pam Lowe]

Great Sailing Adventure

Another thoroughly enjoyed book from a favorite author of mine. Always loved Phil Carson and Ranya from his first trilogy, but this third book in his Dan Kilmer series was great and has plenty of sailing action. There are lots of possibilities for more books based on what he developed in this one but doesn't leave you hanging if it ends with this one.

[Lynn Sadler · Rating 5 out of 5]

Those were the days...

Loved the interaction between the people. At the middle of the book, it started to be labor intensive on the mechanics of the parts and their working relationships. In fact, I started to put it down. I'm glad that I didn't. It really turned the corner in making the rest very interesting...

[Sloan · Rating 5 out of 5]

A great read

An entertaining sailing adventure. I like the author's knowledge about sailboats. It makes for a plausible read about adventures taken in a world economy that's collapsed.

[Gary Runyon · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great read

Love the books and storyline. The characters are believable and interesting. The descriptions of the the boat and how everything works makes you feel like part of the story.

[Peter · Rating 5 out of 5]

Matt does it again!!!

Could not put it down. Can’t wait for the next one! Great story, great insight, perfect summer vacation reading! Great job Matt

[Devin Coryell · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5 / 5

[Celeste Hansel]

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